An Acrobat of the Heart. A Physical Approach to Acting Inspired by the Work of Jerzy Grotowski PDF
Preview An Acrobat of the Heart. A Physical Approach to Acting Inspired by the Work of Jerzy Grotowski
Stephen Wangh An Acrobat of the Heart Stephen Wangh studied with Jerzy Grotowski in 1967. Since 1973 he has taught acting in Europe, Boston, and New York, where he is currently Master Teacher at the Experimental Theatre Wing at New York University. He is a playwright, lyricist, and director, and has been Artistic Director of The New York Free Theater, Reality Theater, and Present Stage. He was dramaturg for Moisés Kaufman’s Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, and was Associate Writer of the Tectonic Theater Company’s The Laramie Project. His own plays include Class, Calamity! and Goin’ Downtown, as well as numerous collaborative theater pieces. For Suzanne It would be disastrous for an acrobat to go off wool gathering just before he performs a salto mortale or other neck-risking stunt!…He must jump, come what may. This is exactly what an actor must do when he comes to the culminating point of his part. —CONSTANTIN STANISLAVSKI When you perform a somersault in space which you are usually not able to do because it seems impossible, you regain some trust in yourself…. It is not knowing how to do things that is necessary, but not hesitating when faced with a challenge. —JERZY GROTOWSKI The actor is an athlete of the heart. —ANTONIN ARTAUD Acknowledgments This book owes the greatest debt to Jerzy Grotowski, whose teaching inspired so much of my work. But it also owes much to many other teachers—including Helen Houston, Martha Stodt, Alan Levitan, Omar Shapli, Kristin Linklater, Alan Miller, and Linda Putnam—who taught me what a bountiful act teaching can be. And it owes special thanks to Tom Crawley, whose journal, The Stone in the Soup, provides a unique record of Grotowski’s teaching work. The writing was made possible by Una Chaudhuri, Chair of the Undergraduate Department of Drama at the Tisch School of the Arts at N.Y.U., and Kevin Kuhlke, Head of the Experimental Theatre Wing. Their encouragement and support provided the time and supplied me with the fortitude to finish this work. Thanks are also due to New York University and the Tisch School of the Arts, whose Research Challenge Fund and Senior Faculty Grants provided financial support. For assistance with the research, I am indebted to Raïna Fernandez von Waldenburg, who provided the main logistical, editorial, and moral support for this project. Thanks also to those who read the manuscript and whose insightful suggestions clarified the writing: Chris Rohmann, Pamela Ricard, Jan Cohen-Cruz, Walton Wilson, Kristin Dombek, Amanda Gronich, Beth Turner, and Daniel Banks. To Nanc Allen for her administrative assistance, and to the students of the Experimental Theatre Wing for their courage and dedication. To Moisés Kaufman for his encouragement, and to Michael Earley of Methuen for his editorial suggestions. Before and after all, I am grateful to my first reader and loving accomplice, Suzanne Baxtresser, and to Noah Nuriel Alim Baxtresser Wangh. Contents P REFACE I NTRODUCTION T R O THE EADER A A W - N CTOR’S ARM UP Asking Questions Tuning Your Inner Strings Finding Safe Space The Stream-of-Consciousness Warm-up A Balancing Act Slow Motion The Body Part Warm-up Acting on Impulse What Is an Actor’s Warm-up? Work Clothes L E C ES XERCICES ORPORELS The Spine Undulations Digesting the Work—The Hunker The Cat More Exercices Corporels The Forward and Backward Rolls The Headstands The Backbends Tiger Leaps L E P ES XERCICES LASTIQUES Plastique Isolations The Plastique River Image? What Image? Eye Focus Touch The Pushing Exercise Image Walks Sticking with Images Working with Tension The Container and the Kiss Effort, Openness, and Imagery Physical Acting and “Serious” Acting Bad Acting The “Just Stand” Exercises Bodily Emotions L ISTENING Paradoxes of Acting I Feel The First Crossing The Second Crossing Two-Person Plastique Rivers Face Tracing V W OICE ORK A Loss of Voice Connecting the Voice and Body Working with Sound in a Group Receiving with the Voice Consonants “Yes-No” and Gibberish S W CENE ORK Choosing a Scene “Dropping-In” Plastiques The Weapons Work What about Objectives and Intentions? Blocking and Stage Movement The Dropping-In Crossing Private Space What about the “Prior Circumstances”? Rehearsing on Your Own How to Talk to Another Actor Listening All the Time Positive Feedback The Eyes Finding the Right Gesture Plastiques with Real Objects Working with Mistakes Pauses Details Precision The Improvisation and the Score An Acrobat of the Heart C W HARACTER ORK Why Bother? What Is Character? Character from the Body Baseball (Three-Part Character) Imitation Character or Caricature Anti-typecasting Standing It Dress-up Characters Who Listen Choosing Character Scenes Character Word Jam: The Cinderella Exercise “I Can’t Play You” Autobiography Rehearsing Character Scenes Playing Comedy There Is No Stanley Kowalski Traduttore, Traditore Field of Dreams A , S , S CTING ANITY AND URVIVAL Self-Judgment and Stage Fright Acting or Therapy? A Stradivarius in the Rain Is Acting a Spiritual Discipline? Is Acting a Political Activity? or, What is Selling Out? Acting in the Real World How to Choose an Acting Teacher A A G FTERTHOUGHTS FROM NDRÉ REGORY
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